Bethel Park cat rescue damaged after car crashes into building
Cali Cats Rescue, which is primarily foster-based, held a grand opening for its home in Bethel Park on July 6. The building gives the rescue much-needed space to help more felines. But things took a bad turn on Monday afternoon.
Director Amanda Jeney said something terrible happened as several kitties were hanging out in the community room and a volunteer was getting some work done.
"She called, and she is very calm and collected and cool, and said, 'Hi, someone drove through your building,'" Jeney said.
She shared a Ring video showing the moments after a large cat tree and other items flew across the room when the car hit the building.
"Those poor cats, two of them were in the hammocks on the windows, and, like, one just, you know, tumbled out of the hammock, and shot for the couch," Jeney said.
Jeney said while most hid under the couch, one of the cats scurried into a difficult spot.
"We had one that did get between the interior and exterior walls, our fan favorite, Pretzel. He is a little bit wild, but always makes us laugh and smile, and one of the Bethel Park police officers was able to get him out," she said.
The cats are OK, but there are now crushed bricks, a buckled window frame and no power to the front of the building.
"That really does limit some of the things that we can do in the next upcoming weeks," Jeney said.
"To go there and see it all boarded up now and dark, it's heartbreaking. It was full of spunk and cats, and watching them play and be safe and healthy and living their lives somewhere was all the hard work had paid off. And then that happened," she added.
Enough volunteers offered to take in the six cats, and also a mama cat and her babies, until someone can adopt them.
"We got flooded with messages that people could temporarily house cats, which made us feel great. It was very, very touching, and I was beyond thankful. The community really, really stepped up," said Jeney.
Now, the problem is the recue's long wait-list and not getting more behind without its new building.
"For example, this week, we had a mom and babies waiting, we had a couple adults waiting, we have a whole situation waiting, and the requests still keep coming," Jeney said.
While they work on getting repairs made so the recue can reopen, Jeney's hoping more people will step up and lend a paw. There are a number of ways you can help Cali Cats Rescue, including fostering, adopting, or donating. It also has a few upcoming events.
On Aug. 24, the rescue is hosting its third annual Kitty Kraze and vendor show at Mingo Creek County Park from noon to 4 p.m. There will be food, beverages, vendors, contests, a basket raffle, a 50/50 raffle, photos and adoptable kitties.
The rescue is also planning to move an event that was supposed to take place at its facility on July 30, but now it's hoping to host an adoption event at Pet Supplies Plus in Bethel Park that day.
Pastries A-La-Carte in West Mifflin will bake cat cookies, some will be lookalikes to a handful of Cali Cats' adoptable kitties. The cat cookies will be on sale Aug. 8 and 9, and proceeds will go to Cali Cats Rescue.
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Family vows to rebuild after fire destroys 5th-generation CT farmhouse. ‘We are not alone'
The Burke family lost their home, family pets, personal belongings and almost everything they own when a fire ripped through their fifth-generation Connecticut farmhouse. The South Windsor family is trying to pick up the pieces, and the community is helping out. Loyal Burke Ridge Farms customer Kelly Juleson is spearheading a GoFundMe account that has already netted more than $30,000 as of Monday afternoon. 'We are overwhelmed and humbled by the outpouring of love and support from our community during this incredibly difficult time. The loss of our home, our belongings, and our pets has been devastating. But we have found something extraordinary: the strength, generosity, and kindness of the people around us,' the Burke Family said in a statement. 'While we have lost so much, we have also gained more than we could ever have imagined. Your messages, donations, and helping hands have reminded us that we are not alone.' 'While we cannot get back what we have lost, we have the foundation of five generations of work, memories, and commitment to the community and we are committed to rebuilding. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. You've helped us begin to heal, and you've given us hope for the road ahead,' the statement said. There was a constant flow of customers at the store at 95 Wapping Wood Road in Ellington on Monday. The store remained opened through the weekend and hasn't missed a day. The farmhouse is on 175 acres in South Windsor. The home is South Windsor, but the Burke Ridge Farms shop, where the family sells ice cream and fresh meat products, is in Ellington. Juleson said in the GoFundMe description that the fire was ignited by a lightning strike and within minutes had spread room to room and that the Burke family was left with just 'ashes and heartbreak.' Bill and Christa lived on one floor and daughter Brittani and her boyfriend lived on the other floor. Juleson said all four lost everything that wasn't on their backs or in their cars. Tragically, the family lost several cats to the fire as well as a staple on the property, family dog Twist. Christa Burke said her no one was in the house when the lightning bolt struck on Friday afternoon. 'Our garden center is across the farm from our home, and we were here working and scooping ice cream,' Christa Burke said in between customers. 'My daughter was about to go home and take the dog out of the house and thank God she didn't get there sooner because she very well could have been in there too. We are trying to look at that as the silver lining here. We are very sad about our pets. That's probably the hardest part of all of this. They were a part of our family.' The Burke's have nearly 200 cows, about 20 pigs, as well as sheep, chicken and goats on the land. The family continues to tend to their animals as well as working at their farm ice cream stand. 'It's been a lot. It was more than a home. It was the central hub for five generations of our family operation,' Brittani said. 'Everything we have to run our farm was destroyed. We were sitting there watching the house burn. We were tending to the animals, and it was a hot day. Their needs come first and we were getting them water.' The 20 pigs were loose during the fire and were caught by South Windsor animal control and are being sheltered at a friend of the Burkes. Juelson said she met the Burkes almost five years ago when she moved into town and met Bill and Christa. Her family would get ice cream and became close with the Burkes over the years. 'The Burkes are the kind of people you want in your community: salt-of-the-earth, hardworking, humble. After years of challenges, they've fought hard to find stability — to protect their land, their legacy, and their family business. And now, they're starting over from scratch,' Juleson said. Juleson said the Burkes weren't looking for handouts, but she insisted that people would want to help them. 'I was too proud to ask for help and Kelly was OK we are doing this,' Christa Burke said. 'I'm just so thankful to her and so many in the people in the community that have helped. It's been incredible. People have stepped up. Kelly really stepped up and she has really been incredible.' Juleson said she pulled into the property on Friday expecting no one to be there and she said the store was still open. 'Everything continued to go on as their home is burning behind them,' Juleson said. 'I pulled into the ice cream stand thinking, no one would be here. Well, the house was still smoldering, and they were working. They were here scooping ice cream and people were coming who had no idea what was going on behind them. And so, you know, that they had to like grin and bear it and continue to serve ice cream… that's how committed they are to the work, but then also the animals, they can't take a break.' In addition to the monetary contributions, Juleson said on Sunday there were nearly 50 volunteers helping the Burke's transplant and plant mums for the fall. 'The community has turned out for the Burkes. I had tears in my eyes pulling up to the farm yesterday and seeing close to 50 people helping them replant their mums,' Juleson said. The volunteers helped transplant into larger pots as well as planting into the ground. This will allow the family to sell the plants in the fall. 'People who live in the surrounding know this could have been them and just knowing the loss that the Burke's have faced is gut-wrenching,' Juleson said. 'It's not just their house; they have lost all of their livestock supplies.' The tragedy struck on Friday around 2 p.m. and the South Windsor Fire Department responded to the fire at the two-and-a-half-story farmhouse on Niederwerfer Road. According to the fire department, first responders arrived within six minutes and saw a 'large amount of fire on the front porch and first floor.' South Windsor Fire Department said that the entry was made through the other side of the house and firefighters were able to save two cats that 'appeared OK.' The volume of the fire prevented further interior searches, but the homeowner arrived shortly after and confirmed that the occupants were not in the building. Late Sunday night, a third surviving cat emerged on the farm and is back with the family. Christa said the cat seems OK but may be a little traumatized. All 40 members of the South Windsor Fire Department were on scene and South Windsor received aid from eight other departments as well as jurisdictional coverage from two others, according to the South Windsor Fire Department. The South Windsor Fire Department said, 'The weather played a role as this response was during a storm cell with lightning and high temperatures tipping close to 100 degrees.' State Senator Saud Anwar, who represents East Hartford, Ellington, East Windsor and South Windsor, visited the Burke's at Burke Ridge Farms on Sunday and said the community response to the fire has been 'heartwarming.' 'This is heartbreaking because they have been such an important part of the community and lightning can strike any one of us and destroy our homes and every memory,' Anwar said. 'The other thing that has happened is that this has brought people together and allow everyone to rally together to help in any way possible.' 'As I told the family, this is a marathon and there are multiple parts to this marathon, and we will be with them throughout this journey to help them because they'll have to rebuild their home,' Anwar added. South Windsor Fire Department said in its report on the fire that the area of town had no nearby hydrants and they were laying a supply line from more than 3,000 feet away. Anwar said this is an issue he is looking into. He said if a hydrant was in the area perhaps the outcome could have been better. 'It's a farm and there's no public water supply, so the Connecticut water lines do not go close to that area, so we did not have hydrants,' Anwar said. 'That created a delay despite the South Windsor Fire Department being there right away within a matter of minutes…pressure that is needed to have an immediate response was somewhat delayed because of lack of fire hydrants and lack of having enough supply.' Anwar said he is going to have a meeting with Connecticut Water, the mayor, town manager and state Rep. Tom Delnicki to 'discuss what can be done to address this issue.' 'We want to make sure that every town, not only South Windsor, but every other town where there is a risk of having limitation of access of water for emergencies, we have to figure out a strategy around this,' Anwar said. For now, the Burke family is staying with friends in town and the store has remained open and busy. 'The farming community is so important to all of us, especially here in South Windsor, we are very interested in protecting our lands, keeping this beautiful space for our community, they're not going to be able to do it alone,' Juleson said. Juleson said people have been reaching out through email on the GoFundMe page to offer to help the Burke's by volunteering in addition to monetary donations. She said for those who wish to donate their time or services are asked to email Burkeridgefarmvols@ Brittani, 24, said her goal has always been to take over the farm someday and continue the family legacy. She said the farm is 'going to come back better and stronger than ever thanks to the support from the community.' 'It's been a devastating loss, but it has been great to see the community come together for us and have given us the strength to forge on,' Brittani Burke said. 'We are more overwhelmed by the response of our community than what happened,' Christa Burke added. Solve the daily Crossword
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Threat to close beloved Pierce Co. Facebook group of 10K had a surprise ending
It's weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, intense political divisions and community drama. It's where you go when you've lost your dog, need a helping hand or need a laugh. It makes a peninsula spanning 65 square miles, much of which only has one dwelling per ten acres, feel a little less like an island. It's the Key Peninsula, Washington Facebook group. 'We had some marriages out of it,' Susan Freiler Mendenhall said, recalling when the group hosted a meet-up at a local restaurant, and a couple left together and later tied the knot. (She attended their wedding.) The Key Peninsula resident, age 70, has lived in the community for 38 years. After 14 years of administering the Facebook group with a small team of other admins, keeping it 'family-friendly' and prohibiting profanity or discussions of partisan politics or religion, she finally believed it was time to bring it to an end. She posted in the group on July 7, announcing her intent to close the group of nearly 10,000 members by the end of the year. She explained that an accident in April left her hospitalized and dealing with some serious health issues. She figured participants could just switch over to other existing Facebook groups for Key Peninsula residents. Her announcement sparked a flood of messages from people reaching out to tell her how much the group meant to them, she told The News Tribune. Several offered to become admins themselves. 'That surprised me,' she said. It also got her thinking. Maybe she didn't need to close the group down. On July 23, she made another post in the group, announcing her intent to let it continue, with two new admins. One of the new admins is Thomas Lancaster, a 25-year-old Key Peninsula resident who said he's been part of the group for going on a decade. His memory of the group goes back even farther, when his dad was part of the group, he said. One day, his dad lost a uniquely-designed cane that he used regularly to walk around and had owned for 30 years. The cane was special because it had grown directly off of a tree and wasn't 'something anyone carved or made,' Lancaster recalled. 'He put out posters and stuff and posted on the local Facebook page, and eventually somebody actually got back to him because they saw one of the posts,' he said. There are many other stories about how the page has helped build community. In 2023, Key Peninsula resident Connor Wiley posted a fake message for an April Fools' Day prank saying that a stalled restaurant project, 2 Margaritas, had finally opened, The News Tribune reported. After the post gained traction, Richard and Cheryl Miller added to the conversation and announced they'd be making tacos for the community in the 2 Margaritas parking lot. They served nearly 150 tacos in the first 90 minutes. 'And did I mention how many lost dogs we've reunited with owners? Often it's one a week!' Freiler Mendenhall wrote in a follow-up message to The News Tribune. She added that neighbors have helped one another through power outages, getting stuck in snow and running out of gas. Some time ago, Freiler Mendenhall started the 'Blue Tarp Awards' as a way to recognize those who did 'something outstanding in the group.' The name came after someone left the Facebook group in a fury, posting that they would 'rather not be associated with you kp elitist trash,' and members started joking about 'how the KP had a lot of blue tarps, or how you had to own a blue tarp to live in the KP,' Freiler Mendenhall wrote. They later adopted a blue tarp as the group's flag, and would put one up during meet-ups, she said. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the group started a new tradition: Meme Mondays, to give people something to do, she said. And they've always had Traffic Tuesdays, a designated day to share traffic-related concerns and prevent traffic from dominating the discussion every day. A particular guardrail has become a running joke on the page. The barrier is on the right side of state Route 302, a mile or so coming off of the Purdy Bridge toward Key Center. 'Someone always hits it,' Freiler Mendenhall wrote. 'We ran a contest once to guess what date it would get destroyed again.' Other community groups spawned from the Key Peninsula, Washington group, including Key Pen It Clean, a group that gathers volunteers to clean up local roads. Volunteers recently collected 50 trash bags across 3 miles on Lackey Road and the Key Peninsula Highway, the group posted on July 13. Key Pen It Flavorful was another subgroup that exchanged meal photos and recipes. Another group, KP Cares, came together after Key Peninsula resident Mindy Taylor had the idea of raising money for victims of the Oso landslide in 2014.A bake sale raised over $3,700 in two days, and additional donations through Facebook brought the total to $4,000, according to The News Tribune's archives. Taylor joined forces with Freiler Mendenhall, Sylvia Wilson and Marilyn Hartley, and they started the KP Cares group to raise funds for other residents in crisis on the Key Peninsula. KP Cares became a 501(c)(3) organization, stating that its purpose or mission was to 'help people in crisis with resources and financial assistance, primarily on the Key Peninsula,' and that funds 'will be raised primarily through bake sales, car washes, and donations from local businesses.' Taylor posted in the Key Peninsula, Washington group in 2021 that she was closing down KP Cares in September of 2021. By then, the group had raised $55,000 for residents in crisis, she wrote. 'We have been able to assist with rent, mortgage payments, power bills, funeral expenses, and Christmas gifts,' Taylor wrote in the post. 'During the heat wave we provided 25 fans for our vulnerable residents.' Freiler Mendenhall said that the community is grieving Taylor's passing from cancer this month. Hartley, one of the other founders of KP Cares, died in June 2022, according to her obituary in the Key Peninsula News. Lancaster, the 25-year-old Key Peninsula resident who offered to be a new admin, said he wants the Key Peninsula, Washington Facebook group to remain 'a good community resource.' The page has always been family-friendly, hasn't allowed profanity and asks users to steer clear of partisan politics or religion as topics of discussion, Freiler Mendenhall said. Lancaster said he believes a good admin is one who's impartial and keeps personal opinions or feelings from affecting how one monitors the page. 'I'm not too worried about it,' Lancaster said. 'You just got to police it a little bit.' Freiler Mendenhall has had to do a fair share of that. She recalled the admins years ago spending 'a lot of time personally asking people to tone it down' or trying to get them to understand the group's purpose and parameters for appropriate participation. 'We've gone through a couple of periods where people chose a subject and then hung on to it to the point where we needed to intervene and so some people were removed,' Freiler Mendenhall said. She had an experience recently where someone whom she described as 'a very decent person' took over the page and began posting in the group 'as if it was their own personal profile.' She tried talking to the person in private, but the person's constant messages took up a lot of her time. And it gets old when upset users talk badly about you in other groups, she continued. ' ... it's probably what contributed to me thinking I got to stop doing this,' she said. Asked if a recent dispute that played out on the Facebook page about flags on Purdy Bridge affected her decision, she said 'no, not at all.' The News Tribune reported that some two dozen rainbow Pride flags appeared on the Purdy Bridge in mid-June and were taken down shortly after, leading to speculation on social media about who might have removed them. The Washington State Department of Transportation confirmed that state employees took down Pride flags on the bridge between June 10 and June 11 because it is illegal to attach flags or banners to state-owned bridge structures. Most of the time the members of the Key Peninsula, Washington Facebook group know what to do, Freiler Mendenhall said. 'That's probably one of the biggest reasons I'm not as active is that the members self-regulate,' she said. 'They know the rules and they tell each other what the rules are.' The News Tribune's archives contributed to this report. Solve the daily Crossword
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Round 2: Waynesboro hosting Back to School Bash July 27
Waynesboro Public Schools is preparing to host the second session of its fifth annual Back to School Bash on July 27 from 1 to 6 p.m. at Kate Collins Middle School, 1625 Ivy Street in Waynesboro. The first session was held July 20, offering families a strong start to back to school preparations. This upcoming event provides another opportunity for students and families to meet with school staff, connect with community partners, and get ready for the year ahead. The vision of the event is to remove barriers for students and families that make the start of a new school year stressful. At the event, Waynesboro Public Schools will again have opportunities for students to receive haircuts from local stylists, and healthcare providers will be available to provide school physicals and immunizations. Families will also be able to access forms to request assistance for school supplies, clothing, or other medical needs. In addition, healthy fruits and vegetables will be available, along with numerous community resources, and fun and games for students of all ages. 'The way our community rallied to support our students last year was truly amazing," said Ryan Barber, assistant superintendent of the school division. "I am proud to be a part of the great work going on in Waynesboro Public Schools. I am looking forward to doing it all again this year, ' The 2024 Bash welcomed 1,441 participants, an increase of 111 from 2023. The event was made possible through the efforts of more than 245 WPS staff members, volunteers, and community partners. WPS looks forward to continuing this tradition of support and celebration as the new school year approaches. Some additional highlights from the 2024 event are listed below: 248 children received haircuts, braids, and styles from 17 hairdressers and stylists. 79 sports physicals were provided in partnership with Augusta Health & Rockingham Memorial. School registration assistance was provided for hundreds of students. Approximately 10,000 pounds of fresh fruits, vegetables, and non-perishables were available for families Approximately 35 community organizations participated in the two weekend events. In order to provide the best experience for families we ask that families pre-register by through SignUpGenius. More information is available on the Waynesboro Public Schools website. More: VDOT: Interstate 81 lane and ramp closures near Staunton for bridge widening More: Former Nexus executive Richard Moore's sentencing delayed again: Here's what happened Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips are always welcome. Connect with Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@ and on Instagram @hitepatrick. Subscribe to us at This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Round 2: Waynesboro hosting Back to School Bash July 27 Solve the daily Crossword
